Maggots are something most people don’t like to see in and around their home. Generally white and resembling a worm or caterpillar, most maggots have a tendency to “gross out” even the toughest of men. In most cases you will see hundreds if not thousands at one location and the way they move makes it appear as though 10 times as many are actually present. If you have seen them in your garbage or out in the yard, you know the feeling. Well, this article will help shed some light on this misunderstood insect and then offer various options on how to treat local infestations.

Maggots are almost always the young of some type of insect. Most commonly the young of some specie of fly, maggots could be young beetles, moths or many other local and common insects. Virtually all insects hatch out young which will start its life as a type of worm-like creature. Fly larva – or maggots as they are more commonly known – will almost always be white. They might have a tan, brown or black head but most people just see white. This is due to the sheer numbers that most people will happen upon when they first find any in or around the home. Since many insects will start out in this form, there is no common size nor location where they may be found.

Maggots are generally associated with either garbage or a dead animal. However, they can readily feed on almost anything organic. This list includes but is not limited to carpeting, wallpaper, pet food, bird seed, pets, couches, clothing, furniture, pet hair, people hair, live animals, plants, fruit, vegetables, cooked meat or food, compost piles and just about anywhere in the home or immediately adjacent to it. Though maggots serve to “recycle” most any type of garbage or other decaying matter, most people don’t want them in and/or around the house because they’re unsanitary and unsightly.

The following video is quite graphic but it shows what filth flies do when then find a dead animal. Basically they’ll ingest any liquids on the carcass they can find as well as start laying eggs.

Nature has a way of finding a place for most any living creature and maggots are no different. They are clearly responsible for the recycling of almost anything which is considered waste. There are even maggots which are so highly specialized that they can only eat certain types of waste! These species are so highly developed that the adult stages will actively seek out the special food requirement their young must have and only when such a food supply is found will they lay their eggs. Once the eggs hatch, the larva (maggot) doesn’t even have to search for food. Most maggots will feed for a few days to a few weeks, depending on species, and then it will migrate away from the food supply to seek a good location to undergo metamorphosis. This is the stage during which the “maggot” turns into the adult. This usually occurs inside a cocoon or shell like case in which the insect will literally transform into an adult. Once this stage is completed – which could take a week, a month or even a year – the adult will emerge with generally only two things in mind: finding a mate and then reproducing.

Since there are many things in and around the home which can serve as food for maggots, all it takes is a fertile adult female laying some eggs and a local infestation can ensue. In general, the faster the food supply is likely to go bad and rot, the faster the life cycle of the maggots which will want to eat it. For example, over ripe fruit and vegetables may attract several types of flies which will be able to complete their life cycles in under one week. Maggots may only need to feed for a day or two which insures the species will propagate – even if there is only a limited amount of food around on which to feed.

On the other hand, fly maggots, like Blow Flies, will feed for a slightly longer time. Generally this type of maggot will feed on dead animals. They are commonly found in homes which had an animal die somewhere inaccessible. This is quite common due to the use of Rodenticide and the mistaken belief that the mice or rats that eat it will “go outside to seek water” or “dry up when they die so they don’t release any odor”. Nothing could be further from the truth! In fact, the most common cause of maggot problems in the home is due to flies which have been attracted to the rotting corpse of some animal. And the most common animal they are finding are either rats, mice or squirrels with the most common cause of the animals death being contributed to the use of a rodenticide! If you are experiencing this problem, we suggest you go to our on line article about Rats and Mice and read up on how to deal with local problems.

When maggots are found in or around the home, they are usually found in one or two stages. Stage one infestations are when the maggots are found on the food they need to eat. This many times will be a dead animal that has died in the attic, crawl space, under a deck, in the wall or some other area. Once dead, it will begin to decay. This process releases gases and odors which will attract flies and other insects. These insects will start laying eggs on the body and larva could hatch in as little as a day or two. If the dead animal is large enough, the inhabitants of the structure will detect its presence because the smell will become stronger with every passing day. At some point there will a search for the source of the odor and if the animal is found, don’t be surprised to find a lot of maggots as well. At this time, there are a few things which need to be done.

First, the body should be removed and thrown into a heavy plastic bag that can be sealed so that as much of the odor, insects and germs can be sealed up and contained. The area where it was laying should be cleaned up with ROUGH’N READY which will sanitize all treated surfaces. Rough’n Ready is a strong disinfectant and works well for such applications killing all types of bacteria, virus and other bad microbes you don’t want around or in the home. Use a DISPOSABLE RESPIRATOR during the cleanup to insure you are not breathing in any of these contaminants.

Once sanitized, you should apply either QUICK ACTION or NNZ. These are products which are designed to remove the dead animal odor. Simply spray them over the area which has been cleaned focusing on any and all surfaces which had animal contact. You can apply either one with one of our SPRAYERS but if you are not able to get to the area where the animal was laying, consider the use of a FOGGING MACHINE. This device will blow the material out over 50-70 feet so that you can treat hard to reach areas quite well.

If the targeted area is in a wall, you won’t be able to get liquids to penetrate properly when sprayed through small holes. For this type of problem, you will need one of our FOAMING TOOLS along with FOAMING AGENT. This tool basically takes the liquid products like ROUGH’N READY and NNZ and converts them to a thick foam – much like shaving cream – which is much better suited at penetrating wall voids and staying where it is applied. It will take a little more time and cost to get the job done this way but the results will be immediate and in the long run save both time, excessive use of product in the wrong area and a lot of aggravation. Foaming is very effective for wall or ceiling applications and if you suspect the targeted odor and maggot problem is in such a void, there is no need to rip the wall apart when foaming is available.

Immediately after the odor control product is applied, you should treat with either PERMETHRIN or DEFENSE SC. Both concentrates will control maggots immediately; Permethrin is best suited for indoor applications and Defense is designed to last longer outside. Be sure to cover all hidden cracks and crevices where the body was positioned. Since maggots will leave the body on which they were feeding, some could be 10-20 feet away and sometimes more. And if you don’t treat the surrounding area well, these well fed maggots will undergo metamorphosis during the next few days and start emerging once fully developed. Use either one of our SPRAYERS or the FOGGING MACHINE to do the application but the key is to be able and get the product properly dispersed over the area where activity was noted.

And don’t rule out live animals, such as pets, when trying to locate the source of young maggots. It is quite common to have maggots suddenly appear on otherwise healthy dogs or cats. This will generally happen during the warm summer months and seems to occur more on pets which are kept outside. It also seems to be more common on animals which are either sickly or have sustained some sort of injury. Animals with long hair can hide the maggots and it can be hard to see them without making a close inspection.

If left untreated, maggots on dogs or cats can be life threatening. This can happen due to deadly toxins that will be absorbed by the infested pet. These toxins will eventually put the animal into a state of shock which will require immediate veterinary action. For this reason its imperative that maggots on dogs or cats be treated using the remedies listed below.

If you find maggots on your pet, there are two products which need to be used. First, the animal should be washed well to help remove any maggots that are alive. Use some MELALEUCA SHAMPOO for this job. It will both help to dislodge maggots and maggot eggs. This special formulation will also promote healing of the skin and fur and help to take away the “itch”. Taking away the irritation and itch on the animal is key to getting it healed. Once it has been cleaned, apply some of our WATER BASED PET SPRAY. This material has both Pyrethrin and Permethrin as active ingredients. These two actives will work two ways.

First, the Pyrethrin will quickly kill off any live maggots which were not removed during the bathing of the animal. Second, the Permethrin will leave a 1-2 week residual on the skin and fur of the animal. This residual action will kill off any maggots that hatch during this time to prevent further infestations on the pet. Also, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT NOT TO USE AN OIL BASED SPRAY ON THE HOST PET. Oil will not only irritate the pets skin, it will prevent proper healing and only lead to more discomfort and problems. You must only use a Water Based material like our spray detailed above. And if the animal is covered with maggots, be sure to spray it down prior to washing with the Melaleuca. This will help with the removal of them during the bath because dead maggots will wash away a lot easier then live ones. You will have to retreat the pet once dry but a good spraying will allow for better and faster results when dealing with active maggots on pets.

Another type of common maggot problem occurs in garbage, carpeting or from the ground or concrete around the home. Since there are many organic things in garbage (like thrown away food), flies and other insects are drawn to these areas due to the odors and gases which are released. This is especially common during the warmer months of the year because the heat contributes to the problem.

One thing the heat does is get the garbage to rot faster which in turn causes it to release all it’s natural attractants which in turn attract insects. The insects are able to complete their life cycle that much faster because both the source of their nutrition (the rotting garbage) and the high temps allow for a faster then normal growth rate. Common areas for this type of problem are outside where garbage is kept, around pet kennels, compost piles and in garages. In fact, garages will many times present the best place for such an infestation because cars which are parked while very hot cause the temperature to get unnaturally high. This extra high temperature enables the maggots cycle to complete that much faster.

For such areas, there are two things which should be done. First, spray the area on a regular basis with NNZ. This product works to remove the smell of the garbage which in turn will prevent insects from coming around wanting to lay eggs. It can be applied in garbage pails, around where garbage is stored, pet runs and kennels, compost piles and just about anywhere you are having the problem inside or outside the home. Apply it with any of the Sprayers we have featured above and use it once a month or as needed to keep odors in check.

When maggots start showing up in your sink or bathroom tub, that usually means there is a food source either close to the drain or in the drain itself. Animals tend to die close to water and drain lines can many times “trap” or harbor small animals that die and become maggot infested. Additionally, many food items and organic matter in general can serve as food for any maggot so insinkerators commonly have maggot problems.

To treat a maggot problem in the drain line, you should first try to remove anything organic that might be in the pipe. This can be done by pouring some SURVIVORS down the drain. Survivors is a bacteria that will “eat” anything organic. This process happens quickly and in doing so, will take away any food the maggots may have found.

Next, you should also spray down the drain with some GENTROL AEROSOL. Labeled for use in sinks and drains, Gentrol is a growth regulator that will prevent the complete cycle of the maggots to complete which will effectively cause them die. Gentrol is not a traditional pesticide and in fact, it won’t kill anything. It’s basically nothing more than a protein and by over exposing the young maggots to this protein, they cannot develop properly.

Stage two type infestations are when you don’t actually see the maggots when they are feeding. Instead, you happen to find them migrating through your home. In most cases, dozens of maggots will be seen crawling around without any real destination or direction. They could be on the floor, furniture, under appliances, on the walls and just about anywhere in the home. This type of infestation is basically when the maggots are relocating from their source of food to where they want to stage their metamorphosis. Since small amounts of food can serve to enable many maggots to grow, it is not always detectable. Many times a piece of meat or some other food can fall behind or under an area in the kitchen where it remains hidden. Its odor may be slight enough to avoid detection by the people who live there but most any fly or other insect will certainly find it

Since organic matter can easily accumulate under cement, it’s not uncommon to have maggots coming out of cracks found in sidewalks, patios and other cement slabs in or around the home. In some cases water or some other natural carrier is depositing the material under the cement. In fact, water can many time transport the maggot eggs and deposit them where they’ll hatch undetected in these hidden spaces under the concrete.

Whatever the case, dirt will many times have enough food to sustain the hatching larvae and if left untreated, they’ll grow and then migrate up and out which is when you’ll discover you have a problem.

The good news is you can easily treat the problem with either a liquid or an aerosol. So if the cracks are large and you can get a liquid spray to funnel down into the gap, apply PERMETHRIN to any crack where you see them emerging. Treat weekly until the problem stops. In most cases, it will just take 1-2 treatments to control the hatching larvae.

But if the cracks are tiny and you find it hard to get a liquid into the gap, go with the D-FORCE AEROSOL instead. It comes with a straw like “injecting tube” making it better suited for such a specific spot treatment.

Another common nest site for maggots are gardens. People are commonly recycling waste products as fertilizer which will readily attract flies which in turn leads to maggots. Animal manure is being sold which will many times contain fly eggs and pupae. Once applied to your gardens, maggots will start hatching within days. These maggots will be hungry and will target your plants for food.

For common flower beds and ground cover, VEGETABLES PLUS PERMETHRIN is a good choice to spray. It will quickly kill the maggots active as well as prevent new ones from coming around.

If a Stage Two infestation is found, it is important to try and locate what the maggots may have been eating. It will most likely be in the room with the most maggots so spend a lot of time checking everywhere in that room and be sure to turn over any furniture cushions, look under couches and check up high on wall units. Many maggot infestations are the result of some youngster throwing some food up on a wall unit behind a book where only the flies were able to find it! Two weeks later the house is crawling with maggots and a month later there are flies everywhere!!! Once you feel confident you have found the main source of food for the maggots or if you believe they must have ate it all, you need to do two types of treatments. If the maggots were crawling through the carpeting, it is best to treat it with the PERMETHRIN listed above. Apply about 1 gallon of finished product to every 800 sq/ft of carpeting. Be sure to treat the entire main room and don’t forget the neighboring rooms as well. Since maggots will travel 50-100 feet, it is not uncommon for them to be in many other rooms once they have been on the move.

Additionally, it is best to treat all the moldings, baseboard seams, door frames, and spaces where maggots would want to nest with DFORCE AEROSOL. This product comes with a long straw which is perfect for getting the material deep into the voids where the maggots like to hide. Dforce is a good flushing agent so any maggots close to where you spray some will feel it’s presence and come out. This can really help you eliminate their hiding locations and when combined with the Permethrin, you should be able to chase them out and over the residual action of the Permethrin.

When flies lay eggs in an automobile, you’ll commonly find their maggots active in the carpeting and up under the seats. The first thing you need to do for these infestations is to vacuum out the car thoroughly. This will help remove maggot food, eggs and pupae.

Next, spray the carpeting with either the PERMETHRIN listed above or MULTI PUPOSE INSECT KILLING AEROSOL. Permethrin is odorless and will easily control the foraging maggots where sprayed. But since its a liquid, Permethrin may be a bit messy for the car. So if you prefer a “dry” material to apply, go with the Multi Purpose Insect Killer. With this product, no mixing is needed so this option is usually the easier way to proceed.

Once you decide which product to use, treat twice. The second application should be done within 7 days of the first application to insure you get all the hatching eggs.

Now if you’re seeing maggots or flies around a compost pile or bin, we have an easy to use organic option that can be used safely as often as is needed. Approved for organic gardening, this product can be applied daily if needed and won’t pose a hazard to the compost so it can be used as intended.

Known as ORGANIC FLYING INSECT KILLER, this aerosol can be used inside around garbage bins, compost pails, etc. It will control flies and their maggots so you can continue composting without having insects.

Now if any of the maggots were able to spin cocoons and start to pupate, chemical treatments won’t affect them. Once they are sealed up in their protective cases, they will be able to withstand being sprayed directly. This means you can do nothing but wait and expect to have some adult insects emerging in the next few weeks to a few months depending mostly on the species which was active. The good news is that any of the food supply which was able to allow the first infestation to start should be gone. If you have taken measures to prevent this from happening again, the few that make it to adulthood should die off in a few days in a futile attempt to find food on which to lay their eggs. However, if you failed to either treat following the maggot activity or if you have allowed the conditions which led to the first infestation continue, these hatching adults may just be able to breed and reproduce successfully. If this is happening, you must try and find the food supply on which these adults are laying their eggs so that it can be removed or treated as detailed above.

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Comments on MAGGOT CONTROL

Vivian Taylor @
1:04 pm

Tech Support @
1:16 pm

This is fairly common. Especially when people use a natural fertilizer which be made with the feces from animals. Fortunately maggots are easy to control. The Vegetables Plus mentioned above would be fine for any garden; if you want something organic, go with the Multi Purpose Insect Killer.

Jean @
1:35 am

I have found maggots under the kitchen flooring and now in adjacent areas of the house. Your information was very informative. Is this something that should be treated by an exterminator or is this something that can be done successfully by the homeowner? Thank you for the information. Patiently awaiting your professional answer.

Tech Support @
8:43 am

This is an easy problem for any homeowner to handle. If the area involved is large as in several hundred square feet that needs to be treated, get the Permethrin. It’s odorless and ideal for use in the home because it can be broadcast over large areas for most any pest including flies and maggots. Use any standard pump sprayer to make the application and the problem will quickly be resolved.

If the area is small, you can get the Dforce Aerosol and mist over the target site although if I was to use an aerosol this way, I’d go with the Phantom because it goes on dry and is odorless. The key here is treating the areas where the maggots are seen so they’re not able to feed and pupate.

teresa @
2:04 pm

Tech Support @
2:15 pm

First, you’ll need to spray either the Permethrin or Dforce listed in our article above. Treatments should be to the molding around the room. Maggots will enter these points but if you have a good residual in place, they won’t be able to get far and this will keep them out as well as kill them. And if you finding them throughout the carpet, the Permethrin even be sprayed over the entire flooring which may be needed – especially if the room is carpeted.

Second, spray the outside of the home, especially on the sides which surround the living room, to make sure they’re not coming in from outside. Treatments should be done with the Permethrin and made to the ground and foundation wall. Treatments should last several weeks.

george @
5:44 pm

I found some maggots coming from the A/C vent located in the ceiling on the bedroom. I can not reach
the area were they come from. How can I treat this problem without tearing apart the drywall of the ceiling?

Tech Support @
6:00 pm

I’ve seen this happen many times and believe I know what you can do. In the cases I’ve seen like this, the maggots weren’t actually coming from inside the vent but instead, they were coming from the void above and “all around” the vent and were merely exiting at that point. In these cases, the void above has been attic or the small ceiling space between two floors in a home. Also, in almost all of these cases, something had died in the void and the maggots exiting had been feeding on the dead body that was hidden out of view.

To treat the problem, I was able to remove the vent cover and then apply Deltamethrin Dust “sideways” around the ductwork. What I mean is that I wasn’t applying the dust into the duct but instead to the side of it. In fact, all sides. I used a Hand Duster and simply squirted 2-3 puffs of dust out into the “empty” void surrounding the duct which I knew was full of insulation, bugs and even the dead body. And though I wasn’t able to remove a carcass in most of the treatments, I could smell something was there and very much dead. The good news is that I was also able to get control of the maggots because they’re easy to kill when you use dust.

Keep in mind I choose the dust because it’s dry and I didn’t want to make the ceiling “wet” which can happen if you over spray with an aerosol. And obviously, a liquid treatment would do the same so in general, neither is suggested. But the dust will last 6-12 months, goes on dry and is ideal for such situations and most definitely the best way to treat this type of problem. Give us a call if you’ve got more questions; here are links to these products:

lb @
9:19 am

Tech Support @
9:31 am

There are lots of “maggot’s” that can eat fabric. For now, I’d focus on the sofa itself, any carpeting you have and your closets. For the ones I’m thinking about, the maggot will feed on the fabric and then forage away from it when it’s ready to spin a cocoon to change into their adult stage.

The two pests I’m thinking about are Carpet Beetles and Clothing Moths. Read up on these pests here:

Shari @
9:35 am

Yesterday we found a bunch of maggots in my house sporadically through the day. They are by the fireplace in my family room and in my bedroom (which is on the same wall above). I smell nothing decaying. Today the chimney sweeper came and said that the pipes in the chimney are clean. My exterminator came and sprayed a gas and something called cracks and crevices, in the molding along the walls and taped up any openings. He is baffled because there is no smell. Any ideas?? How long will this last?

Tech Support @
9:56 am

There are many larval stages of insects that look similar and can easily be confused with one another. So just because you see a “maggot”, it does not mean it’s the larval stage of something that eats carrion (dead animals). In fact there is a strong chance it’s merely the maggot stage of some other insect and therefore no odor need be associated with the migration you seeing.

That being said, treating all cracks and crevices with something like some DForce Aerosol would be smart. This insures any that forage inside will die and not be able to spin cocoon’s or develop into adults. As for the sealing of entry ways with tape; I don’t like doing this since it will remove the possibility of identifying just where the maggots are entering. And many times if you locate their entry way, you’ll know where the source of the problem is located.

Worth mentioning is the possibility that there could very well be a dead animal somewhere hidden. I’ve seen where fireplaces have flue’s that are nothing more than a small metal tube that is surrounded by a wood fireplace box. The space between the flue and the box can be breached from the top of the chimney and only by getting up on the roof and looking down into this space can one see if anything is trapped inside. In the cases I’ve seen, about half of the time the odor from the decaying animal was permeating up and out of the chimney box with no odor detectable inside the home or inside the flue. This was clearly due to the direction of the air flow. But in the cases where the odor was noticeable around the home, all we did was spray some NNZ down into the fireplace box and that solved the problem.

LA @
9:18 pm

Diane @
11:55 pm

Tech Support @
7:53 am

Once we reach temperatures of 70 degrees or more inside or outside the home, flies become very prolific and their life cycle can complete rapidly. So if a fly lands on anyone’s clothing and lays eggs, the eggs could hatch in less than a day. Now if their clothing or any other clothing in the hamper has some food on it, the hatching maggots will have something to eat and therefore thrive.

To prevent this from happening you can do several things. The first is to wash your clothes daily. But this alone many not be fast enough – especially if you live where flies are active and can forage into the home on any given day.

So the next best option is to install a Flying Insect Killing Machine. Basically these machines run automatically and can be set to release a short blast of pyrethrin every hour. They contain a replaceable can which will last 1-2 months depending on the frequency of “blasts” you employ. The pyrethrin will be strong enough to kill any flying insects as well as the maggots yet won’t pose any kind of hazard to you or your family. Once installed, you won’t even know it’s there but you’ll have protection from moths, flies, bees and basically anything that flies into the treatment zone.

Here are links to these items in our cart. Please show your support for our business by purchasing the items we recommend from the links provided. Remember, this is the only way we can stay around and keep this valuable web site up and running. Thanks for your business!

reyna @
12:20 pm

Please help. I’m renting an apartment. I’ve been here for 3 years and in my carport I get maggots there. Is nothing there they can eat on. I bleach, I clean, I sweep and I do everything. Next day they’re back. I started getting them in May till like September. What can I do? Please help.

Tech Support @
12:38 pm

The first thing you should do is stop cleaning. For some reason people who find maggots have a bad habit of applying bleach to where they see them migrating. This is bad. In fact, any kind of cleaning to these surfaces is bad and just contributes to the problem. The reason it’s bad is because once you clean the area, you effectively make it ideal for these pests to live. Maggots are in fact very weak and a dirty area could very well cause them to die once they walk over it. Now not cleaning it will not make them go away but at least you won’t be helping them live. And to make them go away, you’ll need to spray the Permethrin listed above. So here’s what I recommend.

First, understand that these maggots are coming from somewhere close to the carport. Just where is any one’s guess and not likely to be a place easy to identify because if it was, you would have seen the accumulated maggots as they were feeding. My guess it’s in a drain, vent or some kind of crack or crevice close by and just out of sight.

Second, understand that the maggots you’re seeing have already fed. And once they feed, they migrate away to spin a cocoon where they change to an adult. And right now they’re using your carport as the area on which to travel during their migration.

Third, stop cleaning the area as the cleaning will make it ideal for them to live and thrive in their effort.

Fourth, get some Permethrin, mix it 4 oz to a gallon, and spray the ground at the rate of 1 gallon of mixed spray per 500 sq/ft. Use a Pump Sprayer to do the application.

Expect to use 1-2 gallons per treatment covering at least 500-1000 sq/ft. This will effectively kill them as they migrate over the treatment. Expect treatments to last a week or more following your initial treatments but eventually you’ll knock them down enough to where you won’t be seeing any for longer time periods and with any luck, one day they’ll be gone for good.

Charlotte @
4:01 am

I recently went out of town and left my son home alone. I was gone a week and my husband called to tell me that my house had maggots all over my kitchen and carpet. My husband said it was because my son did not throw out the trash. I have had people come and clean the carpet and sterilize my kitchen floor. I am finding these brown looking cocoons around the house. I think there is still maggots in my carpet but I have not seen anymore since the cleaning. I am moving and I have a renter for my house. How do I make sure these maggots are gone? Or should I tear out my carpet downstairs? And can the maggots get upstairs too? Please any advise in this matter I would greatly appreciate.

Tech Support @
6:40 am

As our article above explains, the maggots your husband saw were basically baby stages of flies that had fed and were migrating away from their food source to pupate. This process will take a few days and when ready, they’ll start emerging as adult flies. Remove as many as you can by vacuuming and then spray with the Permethrin listed above. I also suggest you add some Nylar to the tank mix. This will affect any eggs you miss so they will not be able to develop normally and this will help break their cycle. The two can be mixed in the same tank and applied at the same time using a standard Pump Sprayer.

And you’ll need to spray baseboards too as well as every carpeted area in the home. Basically it’s like doing a flea job; you spray the carpet applying 1 gallon of finished spray per 800 sq/ft of carpet. These products are odorless and once dry the treated area will be fine to walk over for everyone in the home.

quita @
2:10 pm

My husband just located a lot of maggots under a mat where our infant spilled milk. We had no clue there was anything under the mat. The maggots look to have pupae since we had no idea. Before reading your article, my husband discarded them in the trash and bleached everything. I am so afraid this will come back.. Do I still need to use the PERMETHRIN 10.

Anonymous @
2:27 pm

I have found dead maggots under my couch. I though I got rid of them but I have since found dead ones again, this time in my den. There were about ten of them each time I found them. Thank God they are dead. What should I do?

Tech Support @
2:34 pm

For now the best thing to do will be to first vacuum the entire house. Next, spray Permethrin 10 over all carpets. This way any eggs on the carpeting won’t be able to live if they hatch. Cleaning alone won’t help which is why you need to spray with the Permethrin 10 as it will offer a residual to deal with the hatching larvae.

Tech Support @
2:38 pm

Yes. Bleaching is good for removing stains but in fact it won’t kill anything much more – especially hidden eggs from insects. But if you treat with Permethrin, you’ll have in place a residual protection that will stop hatching eggs from being able to develop once they hatch and try to move around. And since the Permethrin will last 3-5 weeks, you won’t have to worry about anything developing out of sight that could lead to a lot worse issue.

So for now, do a thorough vacuuming of the home. Next, spray all carpets with the Permethrin. Once it’s dry, the treatment won’t pose any hazard to people or pets and everyone can go about normal day to day activity without cause for concern or worry of future infestations.

NANCY Buretta @
2:38 pm

We recently purchased new outdoor furniture…. separate cushions. We bought a deck box to store them in. When we took the cushions out this morning the box bottom was filled with maggots!!! No food, moisture or anything in there…. where would these come from and what do we do to prevent it from happening again? Thanks.

Tech Support @
7:41 am

In our experience, we’ve seen maggots move to deck boxes for different reasons. In some cases they go there for food. In other cases they go there for shelter. Since it sounds like your boxes are clean and free of food, I’m guessing they’re seeking the safety of the boxes which are no doubt protected, shady and basically an ideal site for most any insect to roost.

To stop maggots (and many other pests) from using these spaces for roosting, you’ll need to treat with the Permethrin listed above. This is easy to do. Basically you’ll remove all the cushions, mix up some Permethrin at the rate of 4 oz per gallon of water and then using any standard Pump Sprayer, fan spray the entire box. You’ll want to mist the complete exterior and interior of the unit including the sides, bottom and top panels. Permethrin is odorless and won’t pose a hazard since it’s very safe. Let the treatment dry a good 1-2 hours before using the boxes again but once it’s dry, you won’t know it’s even treated.

Do this once every 30 days when it’s warm outside and you’ll effectively stop ants, roaches, crickets, maggots, moths and just about any insect from using this space.

Now if you want to use a product that will last longer than the Permethrin, go with the Onslaught. Treatments with this product can actually last 6-12 months so you won’t have to spray nearly as often. But in the end, the only way to stop this kind of insect problem from happening will be to treat with one or the other.

Nicole @
3:29 pm

I just went home today for lunch and found maggots in my dog’s food. They were around the container and under it and some on the carpet. I cleaned the whole area and the container. I am hoping that the dog didn’t eat any of them, but last night they were not there. Should I spray this stuff on the carpet area? I rinsed all the maggots down the drain and turned on the disposal. Was this okay to do?

Tech Support @
6:04 pm

Maggots are nothing but a protein so even if your pet did eat any, it won’t bother him. And the disposal method you used is fine. But if you want to stop this from happening again, you should treat the area with the Permethrin listed in our article.

Permethrin is odorless and can be sprayed directly on the floor. It’s ideal for carpeted area’s because it will last for several weeks and is highly active on pests like maggots.

Now if the area in question is a hard surface like tile or hardwood floors, the liquid Permethrin will be a bit messy so to avoid that issue, use the Multi Purpose Insect Killer Aerosol. It uses Permethrin as the active too but because it comes from an aerosol can, the treatment won’t be as wet or messy.

sophie @
6:54 pm

Hi,
My mother has just called me saying she has thousands of maggots crawling all up her back windows and door? She does not have any garbage and nothing like this has happened before! How can we get rid of them and why do you think this has happened?

Tech Support @
7:00 pm

Flies lay a lot of eggs during the summer and when it gets warm, they’ll start laying them most anywhere. Now when these eggs hatch, the larvae maggots will relocate in search of food. So at this time your mother had a fly or two lay a bunch of eggs somewhere close to where she is seeing all the activity.

Now if she’d like to have this problem not happen again, she’ll have to have the exterior of her home treated on a regular basis. A good outside spray that works great on all pests (especially flies and maggots) is Cypermethrin. It’s easy to mix and apply using any standard pump sprayer.

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Kim @
3:41 pm

About 5 days ago, we had something die inside one of our walls. The smell has been horrific but it’s in an inaccessible place. Today, I began finding white maggots on the floor of my bedroom and kitchen. We have a few cedar plank walls in our bedroom and one in our hallway (that leads to the kitchen). I’ve been checking periodically to see if we can find where they’re coming from. The smell has been steadily abating, but it still smells in my hallway/bedroom. How can you get rid of them?

Tammy @
9:43 pm

Tech Support @
11:26 pm

What are you are seeing are no doubt still very much alive. In fact, I believe they are the pupal casings of the maggots.

You see, when fly eggs hatch maggots, the maggots feed and then leave the food on which they ate and migrate away to pupate. Pupation is when a fly maggot gets a hard shell around itself and inside this shell they undergo a major metamorphosis. This transition will change them from the crawling maggot to the adult fly.

So what I suspect you are seeing is the fly pupae. These should be removed and the entire area sprayed with Permethrin 10.

Tina Orr @
7:39 pm

Hi—I found an old bag of potatoes in my pantry (smelled terrible) and picked it up and it had maggots all over it (disgusting). I threw them out and just wondering if I needed to throw out all the food in my pantry?

I sprayed it with wasp and hornet spray, put bleach on it (not the correct thing to do as I am reading this…) and then topped it off with windex. Please let me know if I should throw all food out.

Tech Support @
7:30 am

It’s generally not necessary to throw everything out when maggots are found. In most cases they’ll target one particular food item and surrounding items that are canned or packaged should be fine. Now if you have other bags of potatoes or some other fruit or vegetable stored in the same area close to where you found the infestation, I would suggest that item or items get discarded for sure. The risk of cross contamination is very strong with exposed produce – especially this time of year – and one needs to eliminate all these risks if they are to solve the problem completely.

What you should also do is take this time to do a thorough cleanup of the area of the area as well. This means removing all the items stored where the potatoes were kept, washing or cleaning the area once vacant and then treating it with some Dforce aerosol. This way any maggots or other pests that migrated away from the potatoes will be controlled. Many pests will persist even after the food they targeted is removed so this act alone rarely resolves the problem completely. Treating the cracks and crevices is almost always the best way to prevent future outbreaks and the act of cleaning the area by removing and inspecting everything you keep stored is strongly suggested as well.

Fred @
1:05 pm

Thanks for all your info. I have a appartment bldg two houses away with dumpster and trash cans which are not tightly closed. That is the food source and what attracts the flies. I know keeping the trash cans and dumpster closed would be ideal but that is not going to happen considering the residents.

I find the maggots crawling along the outside bottom of my neighbor’s garage door (door is next to the trash cans) and then mine as well. I spray with permethrin but only in the concrete cracks which is where they seem to hide.

My questions is should I spray permethrin on all exposed concrete surfaces areas? Is the chemical effective after it dries? Any other suggestions would be appreciated. Thank in advance.

Tech Support @
9:31 pm

Permethrin would be okay for a “light” or small problem. But based on your message, I’d move up to another product we have that’s a lot tougher on pests and can last a lot longer. You see, Permethrin is what we call an “EC” or emulsifiable concentrate. These type of products mix with water real well but when applied to porous surfaces like cement, tend to get absorbed quickly and not last nearly as long as they can inside the home on carpets and hard non-porous surfaces.

Alternatively, Onslaught is a microencapsulated product which means the active is well protected inside small capsules. These capsules “time release” once applied which enables the treatment to last a lot longer. And this is true even on cement surfaces.

So I suggest you move to the Onslaught and I think you’ll see better results with less spraying.

patricia castle @
2:13 pm

Hi. Today we found hundreds of maggots on our paved patio. We killed a lot of them but they kept appearing as quick as we killed them. We hosed the yard but even more came up from under the paviors. Is there anything we can use to get rid of them (assuming we still have some under there). Hosing and sweeping is very hard and I’m not sure that it has worked. Thank you.
Regards Patricia

Tech Support @
7:23 pm

Treat the area with the Permethrin listed above. It will both kill any that hatch and prevent flies from laying eggs there. It’s odorless and should be applied at the rate of 1 gallon of mixed product per 250 sq/ft.

Kayla @
6:25 pm

Hi,
My mom called me today freaking out because there was maggots all over the kitchen floor so I came to help. There were about 20 to 30 of them and her cat has been known to kill dozens of mice and rats. We checked everywhere, the vents, the floor boards etc. and couldn’t find a source. So we went outside and I noticed her septic tank has a very foul smell to it. I’ve been by there loads of times and never have I smelled something bad like that.

I’m not sure what the source of the maggots are… Could it be her septic system??
Thank you, Kayla

Tech Support @
7:02 pm

Septic systems can most definitely generate maggots. If flies are able to get inside the tanks, there will be plenty of organic matter for them to thrive. But getting from there into the home is a long journey and in general not likely to happen. Still, I wouldn’t rule it out and for now, consider it the main source of what your mother found.

To stop the invasion, spray the outside of the home with Cyonara RTS. Be sure to spray the siding of the home as well as the ground between the home and the tanks.

Next, use the Permethrin listed above to spray the baseboards inside the home. Treat each room and not just the kitchen. This will insure the maggots don’t nest in the baseboards or around the perimeter of the home.

Princess @
7:44 pm

I have maggots in my carpet around my trash can. I don’t know how they got there because I always clean and take my trash out. My heart nearly jumped out of my body when I saw them. Should I just have the carpet pulled out and replaced or is there another way to get rid of them?

Once the products arrive, apply the Permethrin to the rugs and baseboards where you’ve seen activity. The Dforce should be applied to the cracks and crevices in these same rooms. This will both prevent any more from roaming around that hatch in the future as well as kill any that are still in your home hiding.

Cori @
1:28 am

Thank you for this extremely informative post as well as your consistent and helpful responses to posts! Had a maggot infestation in my garbage can have used the info on this site to treat it (just today). I initially poured bleach before I read this site – glad I found out it doesn’t help.

Princess @
3:17 pm

@Tech Support: Should I treat all the carpet in my whole house because all of it is connected? From the dining room, living room, down the hallway to all the bedrooms.. There are no brakes or anything separating them so should I assume that my whole house is infected? My landlord wants to tear up the carpet that is in the dinning and living area where they have been seen but as I said before its connected to the hall and so on. If he does one part should he do it all?

Tech Support @
4:21 pm

As explained above, maggots live on organic matter and typically not synthetic carpeting. That means removing the carpet will not deter them.

That being said, if your landlord is willing to get you new carpeting, I say go for it. This would be a great way to insure the maggots aren’t living under the carpet because as soon as the old carpet is lifted up and removed, you should spray the Permethrin all over the subflooring underneath. And once this area is treated, you’ll only need to allow it some drying time and then the new carpet can be placed on it without any concern that something is living underneath. And have it all removed, not just a section or two, so you’ll know for sure the problem areas are all well treated.

Now since the source of the maggots is most likely somewhere else like in cracks, crevices or a wall space, you’ll still need to spray the baseboards with Permethrin and the cracks and crevices with Dforce. This will insure the new carpeting doesn’t get the same problem because if you leave it untreated, any new maggots foraging out onto the new carpet will be able to thrive undeterred.

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Alex @
11:29 pm

Tech Support @
7:25 am

A few things. For starters, remove all the clothing from your dresser and then remove each drawer. Next, vacuum out the empty cabinet. Next, spray it thoroughly with Dforce Aerosol. The treatment will insure there are no more maggot stages hidden in the cabinet previously not noticed. This same treatment will kill any maggots that attempt to forage into the cabinet should they be coming from somewhere else in the room.

Next, clean each of the dresser drawers making sure there are no maggots on the bottom or back side. Now go through each piece of clothing to insure nothing is harboring the maggots. Anything suspect should be washed or discarded. I’ve seen small animals such as mice die in clothing and then attract maggots. I’ve also seen where food is inadvertently left in some fabric and then placed in a dresser drawer which in turn attracts maggots.

Lastly, don’t rule out some other pest. As our article above explains, there are many pests which have maggot stages including clothing moths and carpet beetles. To insure these pests aren’t living in the room, get the Permethrin 10 listed above and spray the entire surface area of any carpet you may have in the room. Maggots and other insect larvae in their maggot stage will commonly feed upon all kinds of carpet and from there will migrate up. So if your carpet has any such activity, it could very well be the source and should be treated.

Jasmine @
3:56 pm

Tech Support @
7:22 pm

Get the Dforce and Permethrin listed above in our article. Mix up the Permethrin and apply it to the baseboards of the kitchen as well as the areas under any appliance like the refrigerator, the stove, etc.

Next, spray any crack or crevice you can find on the walls where the maggots are most active. Remember, as they’re climbing up the walls they’re looking for a place to pupate and develop to adults and they love to do this in cracks and crevices. By spraying these potential nest sites with Phantom or Dforce aerosol, you’ll effectively take away their ability to continue on living and in the end, break the life cycle of this sometimes persistent pest.

Remember, the difference between the two is that the Dforce will kill on contact. It also has an odor. Phantom is odorless but won’t kill on contact; it takes a few days to work but this “low profile” approach is just as effective. Either will handle maggots well and can be used safely in the home.

Mike @
2:33 pm

Ok, I have been reading your site along with the questions and answers and I now know I need to treat with Permethrin but still have some questions. Yesterday morning my wife found maggots in the trash can in the house which is inside a kitchen cabinet. After removing the trash she found 6 or 7 on the bottom of the cabinet and 3 or 4 on the kitchen floor. Since then we have found one here and one there (totaling 4 so far). My first question is what is the likelihood that they are under the cabinet? (there is no way to visualize inder the cabinets without cutting). I try to be careful with spraying liquids in/under walls, floors, etc due to mold possibilities. Will spraying the permethrin from a sprayer cause a possible mold problem behind baseboards and counter back splashes? Any other thoughts?

Tech Support @
4:35 pm

I’ve never seen where a light spraying properly done will cause mold. That being said, if you’re afraid of this happening, go with either the Dforce or the Phantom aerosol formulations. I personally use the Phantom quite a bit in my home since it’s odorless and goes on “dry”. I have a lot of hardwood floors in my home so spraying a liquid is tough to do. But the Phantom handles these areas fine without making a mess.

As for the chances of maggots being under the cabinet? That chance is the same as anywhere else within a 100 sq/ft area of where you’re seeing them: pretty good. So if you’re seeing them close to under the cabinet, assume they’re under it too and treat to be safe.

Nadine @
7:06 pm

Hi. I have found 6 maggots four in my kitchen and two on my sofa. I have had everything – I mean everything out to try and find the source but cannot seem to find where they are coming from. Please help.

Tech Support @
8:01 pm

Finding the source will no doubt help break their cycle but regardless of where this might be, failure to treat the rooms where you see them means you’ll be allowing them free access. And this is very important because for as many as you find there are no doubt many more you don’t find. And all these you miss will be pupating and continuing the cycle if you don’t treat the kitchen, sofa’s and other parts of the home with Permethrin and Dforce.

Now since maggots can be coming from somewhere outside, there could very well be a supply of them entering your home for a long time to come. For now, get a good barrier in place and if you do, there is a good chance the problem will get controlled without you ever knowing where they’re originating from.

Stephanie @
4:37 pm

Hi, I’ve read through all of the article and most of the posts. Here is my problem: a few months ago around June let’s say, I used a fogger to get rid of a cockroach problem we had. All the fogger really did was flush out lots and lots of maggots. They were all over the kitchen floor (only in the kitchen) and were most concentrated in a small area that we have where we keep the refrigerator and the laundry room. They seem to come out from under the washer and dryer (which have not worked for over a year – almost 2 years.) We were able to kill them and that same day I had someone help me move the fridge and the washer/dryer out of the way to check if maybe something had fallen or died underneath – but nothing. Also, we don’t smell any dead animal smell.

Ever since then, we get maggots coming out at least once a month mainly from the same area. Behind the laundry, there are holes in the wall because the previous owners used the water from the washer to water her plants in the backyard. We don’t know if maybe they are coming from under the floor (we have laminate flooring). I have a dog and a cat, both indoor, and we only feed them dry food. Sometimes this falls under the appliances but not in excess amounts that could feed the large groups of maggots that appear periodically. Thanks for your help!

Cherie' @
6:38 pm

Hello,

I have a very messy son and upon cleaning out my car, I found some type of larva in the crevices of my seat in the front seat (between the console/arm rest) and in the back seat between my cushion (where he sits of course). I assume that they are feeding off of crumbs dropped by my son. What can I do to get rid of this larva? I’m not sure if it is fly larva or another type of insect larva. Help!! What can I do to get rid of these nasty pests?

Tech Support @
6:49 pm

Based on what you’ve described, I recommend you do a thorough vacuuming of the area. This means pulling out all the appliances you mentioned as well and getting up under them, around them, behind them, etc. And once the area is cleaned of anything loose, I recommend you spray the Permethrin thoroughly on all the baseboards and other areas you’ve seen activity.

Any cracks or crevices you can’t spray with the Permethrin effectively (since it’s water based), inject with Phantom. This will penetrate deep into the voids and get anything you couldn’t remove with the vacuum.

Now with any luck, this might end up eliminating the problem if in fact it’s coming from something on the floor, baseboard, etc. But since you mentioned the pet food, I can’t help but wonder if this food is the main source of the maggots. I recommend inspecting the pet food container and storage area real well to see if there is any kind of larvae or adult weevils, moths or beetles around it. Since many type of pests look the same when in their “maggot” stage, it’s quite possible there is something living on or in the pet food. These maggots could be feeding till they get their full and then normally they’d leave to pupate elsewhere. This would explain why you see a surge in their number appearing periodically. And if either the food or the containers or the storage area turns out to be a source, you’ll need to take corrective measures to put an end to the problem.

Tech Support @
6:57 pm

Take out anything “loose” in the car. That means removing floor mats, anything under the seat, etc. Next, vacuum it out real well. After this, treat by lightly misting the carpet with some Phantom Aerosol. Also treat the cracks and crevices down through the seat in which food and/or maggots are likely to nest or where you’ve seen activity. This will render any maggotws useless and not able to develop. Treatments should last a month so treat every 3-4 weeks to stay on top of the problem.

Now immediately following any treatment, you’ll need to let the car sit a few hours to dry. Keep the window’s open during this time to insure all the fumes ventilate out. In general, Phantom is odorless but any time you use an aerosol in a closed environment (like a closet, car, etc.), fumes can build up and it’s best to avoid this from happening. Keeping windows open and doing the treatment out in the open will assure this doesn’t happen and in my experience, the treatment will be undetectable within 30 minutes of being applied. Since Phantom goes on dry when used properly, it’s a good choice for this type of treatment.

sara @
4:38 pm

I had a rabbit die in the window well outside my daughter’s bedroom. We have now removed the dead rabbit, but there are maggots all over her floor. I vacuumed them up once and checked them again this morning and there are some more in her room now. How do I get rid of these? I don’t think I will ever get my daughter to sleep in her room again. She of course had clothes laying on the floor and I even saw a couple of the maggots in the clothes. Will they die if I just wash them normally?

Tech Support @
6:47 pm

As explained above, washing will just increase the moisture level of the area and this in turn will many times enable the maggots to thrive that much longer. What’s clearly needed is for you to apply some Permethrin to the window well area, the outside foundation and some areas inside the home including this bedroom. The residual from the Permethrin will take care of any you miss and put in place a barrier through which they cannot move or live. Within 1 day of treating, all in the area of the treatment will be dead for sure.

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Terry @
3:33 am

Hi: We live in a motorhome and found maggots crawling in the toilet. We suspect that they are coming up from the dump tank via the toilet overflow. I know that you keep recommending Permethrin 10 but how in the world would I apply that in a dump tank? Any Suggestions?

Tech Support @
8:04 am

The maggots are coming from where the eggs are being laid. And all it takes is one fly getting into the bathroom, finding the toilet and then flying “into” any open vent or drain line where it will lay eggs. The abundance of fecal matter and other decaying organic waste is all they’ll need to prosper in this area and we’ve seen them do so in over flow tanks, holding tanks, vent and drain pipes.

With that being said, it’s not so easy to resolve the matter unless you know which of these areas is the actual breeding site. And since visually inspecting them all isn’t practical, the best approach is to use what we call a “shot gun” treatment in the bathroom. This can be done with both liquid and aerosol formulations.

So when using the liquid, you’ll mix up 1 oz of Permethrin to gallon of water and then pour this down the toilet. The goal here is to get a coating of Permethrin over the pipes and drain system which will take away these locations as a nest site. Do this weekly for 2-3 weeks and then wait. And treat at night, just before everyone retires, so the treatment sits for several hours. In most cases the problem can be controlled using this alone.

But the best approach is to also set up an automated aerosol machine in the room. These machines will dispense a quick blast of Pyrethrin based aerosol which is highly effective at controlling both flies and maggots. So if you place a machine in your bathroom and set it to release every 15 minutes, the aerosol will kill any flies that get in there as well as any maggots which hatch from eggs. This will actively prevent any fly from being able to lay eggs cause once it enters, it will get killed from the treatment. And if there are still any eggs in there, the hatching maggots will fall victim to the treatment as well. The net result is that you’ll never see either once this system is deployed.

A can will last a month or more and in most cases, only needed during the warm season. When used with the Permethrin, you’ll be able to control any pest that wants to take advantage of this otherwise problematic part of any motor home.

dee @
5:15 pm

Hi,
I’ve been reading this site and require some clarity and guidance. I moved into a new home and my furniture is fairly new as well. I’ve been here for approximately 3 months. I move my couches daily and find maggots, a lot of them everyday, even under my standing night lamp. I’ve no idea what to do and can’t figure out where they’re coming from. I’m seriously concerned about this as the numbers are increasing rapidly. I’ve 4 small kids and obviously this is a sign of an hygienic environment. Please help, I’m desperate!

Tech Support @
5:41 pm

As explained above, maggots are the “young” stage of some species of insect. In most cases, the maggot will be the young of some kind of fly. But there are many other insects which have young that resemble the common maggot and when they’re found scattered throughout the home like you’ve described, it can be tough to isolate the source.

So with that being the case in your home, I recommend you do a broadcast application of Permethrin. It’s listed above and in most cases, is used on baseboards and for spot treating carpeting and other floor surfaces.

But based on the fact that you’re finding these around your couches, I recommend you remove all the cushions of the couches so you can mist the top side of the couch. Next, get the bottom side sprayed too.

I also recommend you treat as much of the carpeting throughout the home. This treatment will take care of anything that might be nesting in the furniture or rug and will most likely solve the problem. And that’s because anything hatching on the treated surface will die which in turn will prevent the cycle from continuing. This means eventually the eggs will “run out” since none of the young will be able to mature to egg laying adults and once the eggs are gone, the maggots will cease to appear.

Now if the maggots keep coming following your first treatment, retreat weekly to insure you have a strong enough treatment in place. Apply about 1 gallon of mixed product for every 800 sq/ft of carpet/furniture using a standard pump sprayer.

Jodie @
1:55 am

My situation is different from those above in that I live on a farm and raise chickens. While raising our cornish, I noticed maggots would collect under the water jugs that sat on the ground. I would clean the water jugs and move them to a different part of the pen where the next day I would find more maggots under the same jugs.

What can I do to kill these maggots that will not hurt my chickens? I also have geese in the same area and those geese suck up a lot of moisture in that pen when it has been raining and it rains a lot.

Tech Support @
9:16 am

Your situation is different but the treatment would be the same. If you review the specimen label for our Permethrin, you’ll find it’s labeled for use on livestock including poultry. Now do you need to treat your birds directly to get control of this problem? No. But the point I’m making is Permethrin is actually safe enough to use on your birds so using it on the ground where the maggots are active would present no hazard to any of your livestock.

So to stop maggots from collecting under the jugs, this is how I recommend you proceed.

Start by spraying down the ground where you want to set out the jugs. For example, a mixed up gallon of Permethrin and water can cover about 500 sq/ft. So lets say you have an area that’s about 25 feet by 10 feet where you like to put out your jugs after they’re washed. Before putting them out, mix up some Permethrin in 1/2 gallon of water and spray the area. One half gallon of mixed material would be enough to treat 250 sq/ft no problem.

Once mixed up, you would want to spray the ground using a fan spray pattern which any standard pump sprayer can produce. Next, allow the treatment to dry a good 1-2 hours and you’ll be set.

Once dry, you’d be able to safely put the jugs out over the treated area which should remain maggot free for at least 1-2 weeks. Eventually the treatment will wear down and some maggots will appear again and when they do, simply treat again. Repeat this process throughout the year and I think you’ll find managing this problem will be easy to handle.

On a related note, Permethrin works great for biting flies and other pests commonly found on any farm so I suspect you might find it very useful for treating other pests throughout the year.

Neil @
5:53 am

Hi,

I understand maggots crawl but are they able to climb vertical surfaces like walls and stairs? The reason I ask is that we have a maggot problem in the complex I stay in and the problem is that they crawl out the refuse area and into the other units under the doors. A suggestion was made that we dig a channel/trough by the refuse area door so the maggots could fall into the channel/trough and would not be able to climb out. I want to know if this is true.

Tech Support @
9:08 am

Maggots will be able to traverse through your channel/trough no problem (they can climb up walls and onto ceilings no problem) so this would not be an effective control measure. Furthermore, if you don’t kill them but instead “round them up” into some kind of holding area, you’ll no doubt be aiding them in their main purpose (maturing and mating).

Now what would be an easy and highly effective control measure to implement would be to get some Permethrin, Nylar and a Pump Sprayer. All it would take is maybe 2-3 minutes to mix up the required tank mix and another 4-5 minutes to spray it out over the refuse area.

And if you treated these surface areas every 2-4 weeks, you’d effectively kill the maggots and stop them from being able to develop thus ending the infestation. I’d say treatments done every 2 weeks to start and then once a month when they’re gone will do it.

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tes @
2:26 pm

How do you get rid of maggots in a couch? My friend has a dog and he hid his dog treats in the couch and it has been in there for at least 10-12 months if not longer without her knowing. So as she was moving and she noticed maggots in her couch after removing the pillows.

Tech Support @
2:34 pm

The Permethrin concentrate listed above in our article would be a good product to use. Mix it at the rate of 4 oz per gallon of water and you can apply it to all surfaces of the mattress and any rugs underneath. This would insure there were no eggs left alive that could allow the problem to persist.

You could also get some Lice/Bed Bug/Fly killer we carry that’s ideal for treating small areas like furniture surfaces. Misting it over all surfaces, including the bottom side, would provide the same result as using the Permethrin.

Claire @
2:29 pm

We have tiled floors and in the last few weeks we have seen single orange maggots in the kitchen, two bedrooms and bathroom. There has only ever been one maggot in each room, always on the floor. They are around 1 1/2 cm long and are orange. Absolutely no idea where they are coming from but really disgusting. Really appreciate any advice.

Tech Support @
4:54 pm

Based on the limited sightings, the time in between when you’re seeing them and the description of the maggots you’re seeing, it’s not possible to tell what they might be. But like any maggot, they will be easy to control with a good application of Permethrin 10 and/or Phantom Aerosol.

So for example, my house has mostly hardwood floors so for me, liquid spraying is not a good option. I use Phantom Aerosol instead because it goes on dry, is odorless and cannot be seen where it’s applied. If you treat your baseboards and spot treat any areas with carpeting that’s close to where the sightings are occurring, this could very well solve the problem.

For just 1-2 small to medium sized rooms, the Phantom would be easy to use and cost effective.

But if you instead wanted to treat the entire home and you have a lot of carpeting besides the tiled areas you mentioned, the Permethrin 10 would prove easier to use and more cost effective. Especially if the maggots are living in the carpet.

Since many species of maggots can live in carpeting, if you have any throughout the home, it could very well be the source of the problem and if that’s the case, treating it thoroughly with Permethrin 10 would be the way to go. I would give it a good look over to see if you can find any maggots there and if you’re able to find just 1-2, I’d focus my attention on the carpet using Permethrin.

Permethrin is odorless and can be sprayed over carpeting and furniture for many insect pests like maggots so if you suspect the problem could be coming from your carpeting, this would be the way to proceed.

Jennifer @
4:24 pm

This morning I woke up and began to put my dishes away from the dish drain that I had washed last night and let dry. When I began moving the dishes, I noticed very small sliver white things and they were moving on the bottom of my dish drain. I was immediately disgusted and threw it in the sink and took bleach and hot water to clean it. Then I found this website. My question is that my dish drain is right under my window a/c unit, can these maggots come from their, or maybe just a fly that laid it’s eggs? Should I be concerned that I will find more and should I start tearing my house apart to look for more?

Tech Support @
4:38 pm

As explained above, maggots come from the eggs of a fly that is using a certain area which is left unprotected. And though the bleach will no doubt kill the ones you see, this scenario will surely play out again and again all summer unless you do some treating. Obviously there is something they like around your sink. In fact, it could be in the sink drain line which we commonly see happening.

So if you read the information above, you’ll see we recommend both Survivors and Gentrol for the sink itself. These two products are where you should start.

jackie @
9:54 pm

Tech Support @
7:53 am

Since maggots are easy to control, it would appear that you aren’t using the right spray nor are you spraying where it will affect them. So in cases where maggots are active on or around a bed, there is a common procedure one should follow to insure you get the problem resolved completely.

First, you’ll need to take the bed apart meaning you’ll need to remove all the sheets, linens, pillow cases, pillows etc. Next, you’ll need to take the mattresses off leaving nothing but the bed frame.

Once the bed is stripped down and fully accessible, you’ll need to start the process by thoroughly vacuuming the bed frame, the mattresses, the pillows and all the flooring under and around the bed. Basically you’ll need to thoroughly vacuum the entire room.

Once vacuumed, you can begin the proper treatment by starting with the bed frame itself. Lightly mist each part of the frame with Bedlam Plus aerosol (its listed above). Focus on all the bed joints as these are common sites for maggots to congregate. Be sure to get the back side of the head board and when treating, look for any sign of holes in the frame. Maggots will many times live in wood and migrate out so its entirely possible the source could be the bed frame itself. If it is, you’ll be able to notice small exit holes in the frame or head boards.

Next, before placing any of the mattresses back onto the frame, be sure to mist them with the Bedlam too – especially the bottom of each one. And you need to thoroughly inspect them looking for any kind of tear, rip or holes leading to their insides. Again, maggots will readily feed on many kinds of mattress fillers so its entirely possible they’re living and feeding inside one of the mattresses. If so, there will be some kind of exit holes on the cover and you should be able to see any such holes if you carefully look.

Lastly, now that the bed has been properly cleaned, inspected and treated, focus on the ground under the bed by applying Bedlam to the carpeting (or whatever the flooring is) and slowly work your way out of the room getting the entire floor treated as you leave.

Now let the room sit for a few hours and then air it out for 1-2 hours before letting your son go back in to play or sleep. Doing the job in the morning would allow plenty of time for the treatment to settle and dry so he’ll be able to come back in the late afternoon with no undue risk following the treatment.

Follow this process and you’ll knock out the problem since this will cover all the possible nest sites and get them properly cleaned and treated.

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Stacey @
10:23 pm

Tonight I saw what I think was one single maggot crawling across my kitchen counter. There wasn’t any food nearby (except an open pack of gum my daughter had left out) and I didn’t and still haven’t seen anything else around. What should I be looking for and where should I be looking? I have a little baby at home who is all over the floor and we have a new dog coming next week so I don’t want to have a bunch of these things showing up all of the sudden! Is it possible there was just the one or that it was something else? Thanks so much for your help and your great article!

Tech Support @
7:24 am

First, if you can’t find any kind of main nest site, there probably isn’t one to be found. Remember, flies can lay eggs anywhere and if they cannot locate a “good” location on which to focus, they’ll typically lay eggs randomly inside the home. Their hope is that by laying eggs all over, one of the locations will be prosperous. That being said, if they follow this behavior they will usually target a drain line, around a recycling bin, maybe a garbage can, behind a dish washer, under a refrigerator or any other crack or crevice. Basically all they need is a location that’s moist and/or shady.

Second, if you found one maggot, there is no doubt others soon to hatch or worse yet, others that have hatched and are currently feeding. Remember, the migrating maggot you saw had no doubt already fed. This means there was some kind of food it exploited. And since they can migrate 25-50 feet, its entirely possible this maggot came from some other room in the house and not necessarily from the kitchen itself.

Lastly, since you’ll soon have a puppy in the home along with a baby, the chances are high there will be more food available for fly maggots to prosper in the very near future. For this reason, a light treatment of baseboards, around appliances, under sinks and around garbage areas should be done. This way you’ll have in place a good barrier ready to control any maggots that attempt to move around the home.

As for what to use for this treatment? The Phantom aerosol would be the easiest product to apply. It’s odorless and goes on dry making it a good choice for use inside the home. You can easily spot treat all these areas without making a mess and in doing so, safeguard against any future problem.

But if you want to go all out and treat every room in the home along with furniture and/or carpeting, the Permethrin 10 would be no doubt be the more cost effective option.
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brenda @
1:06 pm

We have a hot tub in our back deck. The hot tub is on a concrete slaB and the deck surrounds the hot tub. I was just cleaning the hot tub, adding chemicals, and noticed a single maggot on the deck adjacent to the tub. Now this could be just coincidence, but are hot tubs susceptible to maggot infestations? Oh my god, I hope not. It will make me sick to learn if this is true. Any thoughts?

Tech Support @
2:29 pm

Hot tubs are conducive to getting insect problems. In fact, anything that holds water around a home’s exterior will naturally attract pests including both flying and crawling insects.

For example, I keep plants on my back deck and if I don’t treat around them once every 1-2 months, some kind of insect will either move onto, into or around the plant pots.

I also have a rain barrel that collects water on the side of my home. This water is used for our organic vegetable garden. Both areas are prone to insects nesting so I have to treat these areas on a regular basis to keep pests away.

No doubt the same can be expected if you keep a pool, hot tub or pond on your property.

The good news is treating around the tub will be easy. You could opt for the Permethrin 10 and apply it with any standard pump sprayer. Treat every month or two and this will keep insect pests in check.

You could also use the Dforce aerosol. Since the area in question is small and won’t require much material to get it treated, the aerosol would be a viable option if you only intend on treating the hot tub area.

But if you decide to spray the homes exterior as well as the hot tub area, the Permethrin 10 would be the better choice since it’s more cost effective when treating large areas.

Tori @
12:25 am

I have maggots coming though a recessed lighting fixture in the ceiling of my kitchen. Have been treating a rodent issue in my attic with rodenticide for approximately 3 months with probably 3-4 dead rodents that I’m aware of via smell and/or flies. Have not seen any flies for 3 weeks but smell from most recent dead rodent is just now dissipating after 4 days. Maggots in kitchen are not close to the most recent odor. How do I treat? I do not have access to remove the dead rodent(s) but do have limited access to part of attic (not part of house above kitchen).

Tech Support @
1:27 pm

If you review our Rat Control article, you’ll learn that we do not recommend using rodenticide in the home. The reasons are many but one of the big problems associated with using it inside is that rodents will many times die in areas where they can’t be reached. And when this happens, it will no doubt lead to odors and flies.

So for starters, I suggest you stop using the rat poison and instead, start installing live traps. These are highly effective, last forever and in the end, a lot cheaper compared to using rodenticide. Plus, you’ll never have to deal with odor or bug issues again. More information about how to use them, which models to use, etc. can be seen here:

But now that you have dead rodent odor and fly maggot issues – along with limited access to these areas – you really need to get the attic space fogged with Permethrin 10, Nylar and NNZ. The Permethrin will kill adult flies along with any hatched maggots. The Nylar controls fly eggs and will stop maggots from hatching for months to come. Lastly, the NNZ will control the odor issues.

The good news is that these products can be applied using a fogging machine so you can treat the entire area even with limited access. And you can either buy or rent the fogger from us.

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kelsey @
7:32 pm

I just found maggots in my car. I had it cleaned. They’re coming out from underneath the carpet. How would I kill them? Also, they’re so small. It looks like a crumb and some big fat ones. Please help.

Tech Support @
8:15 pm

Get some of the Multi Purpose Insect Killer aerosol we have featured in the article above. Use it daily by lightly misting the carpeting every evening before retiring when you know the car will be left to sit overnight.

By treating over and over you’ll eventually get enough material into these areas so any that try coming out will contact the active and die. Eventually the supply of hatching eggs will run out and the problem will be gone but it will probably take a week or two of treating to get it resolved.

Dana @
2:12 pm

We’ve never seen maggots but we have found brown pupal cases (now for the 2nd year in a row) in the same spot on our vinyl kitchen floor (and this year, in a 5 gal bucket on the concrete basement floor). Last year, flies hatched. This year, we caught and contained them before they hatched. We do get the occasional fly to invade our home – sneaks in when we’re entering the home from outside.

What would cause this, why would we find them in the same exact spot, and how can we keep this from happening again?

Tech Support @
8:36 am

Dana,

Flies are very prolific and constantly reproducing. And during the summer they are laying eggs daily. So all it takes is one pregnant female entering your home and bam, eggs will abound. Clearly this is what you have happening in your house and once its “scented” as a good location to lay eggs, it will happen more and more frequently.

To stop the pattern, you can opt for one of two control measures.

Personally I use our wall mounted Fly Traps. I keep a large one in our garage and the smaller outlet powered unit inside. I can’t believe how many flying pests these catch even though we rarely see anything in our home. The point is by catching all these pests there is very little chance of them laying eggs inside our home which is what we want.

Alternatively you could set up an automatic insect killing machine that will release a small blast of insecticide every hour or so depending on how you program it. These are quite small and discreet but do a great job of controlling flying pests.

PS: Please show your support for our business by purchasing the items we recommend from the links provided. Remember, this is the only way we can stay around and be here to answer your questions and keep our web site up and running. Thanks for your business!

Melissa @
10:47 pm

We have just built a new house, moved in June 2014 and by July 2014 have found maggots in the garbage cans and under the cans (plastic by the way), that needed to be kept in the garage so now we have the issue there. We have moved the cans outside in front of the garage and have asked for replacement cans but haven’t gotten them yet. Now again we have maggots back in the garage and we don’t know why. Which product should we use and how often? My husband uses the leaf blower to get rid of them but they just come back in. Please help!

Tech Support @
7:56 am

Melissa,

Maggots will generally form anywhere organic matter is stored and as explained in our article above, adult flies will be drawn to locations where they can lay eggs so garbage bins are usually prime targets. And if you keep your garage doors open throughout the day, you’ll basically be inviting adult flies in all the time so I would expect more of the same problem as long as they have direct access to this prime nesting area.

Now with that being said, exchanging the garbage bins won’t help. I say this because its not the plastic they’re attracted to but rather whats inside.

So if you want to defeat them with your old or new bins, you’ll need to spray them down with the Permethrin 10 listed above in our article. Permethrin is odorless and treatments will last a good 7-14 days. Basically you’ll want to get the bins treated as well as the baseboard around the entire garage and the foundation around the home’s exterior. This way you’ll have in place a barrier which will kill any foraging maggots that hatch from eggs.

Now one thing I have to ask is whether or not they’re definitely maggots you’re seeing? I ask because you mentioned your husband is using the leaf blower to get rid of them. We see this commonly done with millipedes. In case you don’t know what a millipede is, they are maggot like pests which can invade homes or garages by the thousands. Basically they live around homes and when populations get large, they’ll move up and into homes. Especially in areas where it rains a lot. They are brown to gray in color and move about much like a maggot.

Millipedes aren’t really attracted to garbage though but they will usually crawl in one direction and consequently end up in 1-2 locations so maybe its where the garbage bins are kept? Another thing about millipedes is that they smell really bad when they die and maggots won’t have any odor. In case it turns out you have millipedes, you can read up on them here:

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Alexis @
4:50 pm

I’ve had a problem with maggots in my small apartment studio. I’m not sure how or where they came from but they are everywhere in the house. They’re on walls, crawling in the middle of the living room, in the bathroom, everywhere. I’ve had this problem for a little over a month now and it doesn’t seem like anything I’m doing (cleaning) is working because there are so many flies in my home 24/7. I can kill as many as 6 flies a day. I’m not sure what I need to do next since I can’t find the source of where they are coming from. If I just let them do their thing and continue killing them as flies will they eventually go away or will the problem persist?

Tech Support @
5:27 pm

Alexis,

Sorry to hear about your problem but the good news is both maggots and flies are easy to control when using the right products. Unfortunately the problem will not “go away” until its properly treated so you’ll need to do a little work first. This is because one fly can lay so many eggs that its simply not possible for you to effectively prevent new eggs from being laid. And this process will happen indefinitely since most any apartment is plenty warm enough to keep flies active all winter long.

Also, if you read our article above, you’ll learn that “cleaning” usually makes any kind of fly problem worse. This happens for a couple of reasons. First, the moisture from cleaning tends to help flies in their reproductive process and second, it kills any kind of chemical applied that might otherwise be killing the maggots and the adults.

So what do you need to do? Fortunately treating is easy and effective. And you can expect to see immediate results.

The first thing you’ll want to do is to spray Permethrin 10 along all the baseboards, on any carpeting, under the sinks and basically anywhere maggots are seen. Perm 10 is odorless and will kill any foraging maggots within a day.

Next you’ll need to set out 1-2 Aerosol Machines filled with Metered Insecticide. These machines should be set to go off once an hour. Now when they go off, they’ll be releasing a 1 second blast of Pyrethrin into the air. Pyrethrin will effectively kill any adult flies within a few minutes. But since it doesn’t last but 30-45 minutes, its important to use the machine so you know a new amount is constantly being applied. This way any adult flies which appear won’t have a chance of laying eggs; they’ll quickly be killed by the insecticide before they ever get a chance to mate and start egg producing.

Tech Support @
7:16 am

Chelsea,

If you review the article above, you’ll learn about a few “residual” type aerosol products we have which will provide a long lasting barrier over which insects cannot travel or live. You need to apply this to your carpeting, into the cracks and crevices of the seats and basically throughout the entire ground floor levels of your car.

You see, maggots will be hatching from eggs and since there is nothing that can kill their eggs, the problem will persist unless you treat the interior as I’m describing.

Basically what’s happening is that eggs are hatching and maggots are emerging. Within a few days of emerging, they’ll begin to migrate around looking for a food supply. Chances are high they’re finding something buried or hidden on which to feed. It could even be some part of the cars interior like the rug, upholstery or even the foam inside the seats.

Now once they eat and get their fill, they’ll migrate again looking for a place to pupate into adults. Once they go into this pupae stage, they’ll take a few days (or weeks) to develop and grow into adults. But once they reach their adult stage, they’ll once again hatch out, mate, lay more eggs to continue the cycle.

Now vacuuming will no doubt remove some. But there is no way you can get everyone and since it only takes one pregnant female to lay hundreds of eggs, the problem will just keep renewing itself indefinitely until you treat. Basically its only the treatment that can defeat the cycle and stop them for good.

So to stop the process, you’ll want to get a can of PHANTOM AEROSOL. This material is odorless and goes on dry making it ideal for use inside a car. Basically you’ll want to apply it using the included straw injector making sure to treat all the cracks, seams and crevices where there might be eggs hidden and out of sight.

Next, lightly mist the floor carpeting, the trunk, etc. making sure to cover all exposed surfaces where you’ve seen them active. Do these treatments in the evening when you know the car won’t be used until the next day. This way the treatment will be able to settle and sit for the entire night.

Now you will need to do a thorough treatment every 2 weeks and you’ll need to do at least 4 treatments to insure you’ve knocked them out for good. One can of Phantom will be enough to treat your car 5-6 times so expect to use close to a can to get the job done. But if you follow this recommendation and treat the entire inside of the vehicle properly, you will be able to break their life cycle and “use up” all the available eggs without new ones being laid. Ultimately this will enable you to get control of the problem.

Give us a call if you need more help. Our toll free is 1-800-877-7290 and we’re open 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM Mon-Thur; 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Friday and 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM Saturday, Eastern Standard Time.

PS: Please show your support for our business by purchasing the items we recommend from the links provided. Remember, this is the only way we can stay around and be here to answer your questions and keep our web site up and running. Thanks for your business!